Nissan's Infiniti luxury brand has let it slip to Autocar that it will bring an all-electric sports car concept to the 2018 North American International Auto Show this coming January. The production car is scheduled to follow in 2019.

North America's largest auto show in Detroit will play host to the car, which will reportedly not be based on a current Infiniti vehicle. Infiniti's design boss Alfonsa Albaisa confirmed the electric car will be all new. It also won't utilize the Nissan Leaf's platform, either, so it truly will be a car unique to the Infiniti brand, per Albaisa.

Infiniti's most-recent foray into electric cars, the Prototype 9 electric grand prix racer, won't provide the platform, either. It was built as a "what if" 1940s racer, though with a modern electric powertrain. However, Albaisa said the electric sports car heading to Detroit will see "parts of the [Project 9] in a different context." That could mean that the Project 9's 30-kwh battery and/or next-generation Leaf electric motor may make an appearance in some form. Infiniti says the powertrain produces 148 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque in the Project 9. Those figures hardly seem worthy of a modern sports car, so we'll have to wait and see what Albaisa means.

The driving characteristics of the electric sports car are said to be of utmost importance to engineers. Infiniti president Roland Krueger said it will maintain the brand's values of performance and handling. He also said he's driven an early prototype of the car and called it "very good."